CHAD Industries Announces Implementation of CPV Welding System.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- CHAD Industries announced this week the successful implementation of their solar concentrator cell welding system. The CPV Welding System that CHAD Industries developed is an automated system to weld interconnects to concentrator solar cells. The system incorporates a Miyachi Unitek parallel gap resistance welder, giving the CPV Welding System a high degree of process control because of its programmability and closed loop control. The automated solar interconnect system also incorporates an Adept Scara robot with specially tooled grippers, weld nests, and vision system. Special vision and software algorithms are incorporated to meet high placement accuracy and difficult inspection requirements.

Scott Klimczak, President of CHAD Industries, stated, "The keys to the successful implementation of this automated process were the handling experience gained from years working with non-standard wafers in the semiconductor market, and a quality partner in Miyachi Unitek. Concentrator technology poses a great opportunity in the emerging renewable energy market and we look forward to pursuing other welding applications in the concentrator and PV markets. With Miyachi Unitek's welding process capabilities and CHAD Industries having over 30 years of automation experience, we will meet the challenges of the solar concentrator manufacturing market."

Klimczak continued, "Miyachi Unitek has been a great partner in developing our automated welding system for the concentrator solar market. We intend to work closely with our customers and Miyachi Unitek to solve future challenges in the automation of interconnecting solar cells."

"CHAD Industries has very effectively integrated our low power UB25 Linear DC welder in an innovative, flexible concentrator interconnect cell," said John DiGiacomo, Regional Manager of Miyachi Unitek. "Resistance welding provides the high degree of process control required for reliable interconnect bonding. We look forward to working with CHAD and their customers to successfully address the next process development challenge."

Miyachi Unitek (www.muc.miyachi.com) designs and manufactures a full range of resistance welding and reflow soldering power supplies, heads, monitors and accessories for both large scale and fine spot applications requiring precision metals joining, lasers and laser systems for welding.

CHAD Industries (www.chadindustries.net) designs, manufactures and markets automated solar, wafer and odd-form handling solutions and is the leading manufacturer of non-standard wafer handling solutions to the semiconductor industry.

For more information on this or any of CHAD's assembly solutions, visit the CHAD Industries website at http://www.chadindustries.net or contact Scott Klimczak, President of CHAD Industries, at: 1565 S. Sinclair Street, Anaheim, CA 92806, USA Tel [phone] Fax [phone].

For more information on Miyachi Unitek's products, visit the Miyachi Unitek website at http://www.muc.miyachi.com or contact John DiGiacomo, Regional Manager, at [phone].